Battle of Raven's Field
The Battle of Raven's Field was the only large scale battle of consequence during the War of the Davenports. The two arch-enemies, Darren and Marvin, confronted one another on an autumn morning. The leaves were falling from the trees and the landscape was a sea of golds and reds. The battle proved a decisive route, ending the civil war at a single stroke and extinguishing the last of the once great Davenport dynasty. __TOC__ Preparations The Fitz's counterattack into their erstwhile liege's land was proving successfull thusfar, the countryside was being harried and booty was being taken. Lord Darren did little to stop the enemy host, biding his time and relying on Fabian tactics to slowly drain their numbers, and lure them deeper and deeper into the forests and lakes of northwest Erzoth. He finally determined to meet them at Raven's Field. Raven's Field is flanked by woods at either side and slopes steadily downward from the Davenport camp in the south to the Fitz camp at the northern end, thus giving the Davenports a slight advantage. At 8 o'clock in the morning, Lord Darren drew up his host, his infantry in three columns, flanked by cavalry on his left wing. He anchored his right wing on the forrest edge, but sent a troop of cavalry around the other side to the east in the hope of catching the Fitz's by surprise. Little did Lord Darren know that his opponent was also making use of the wood. Lord Marvin sent a force comprised chiefly of his household guard through the woods. These troops removed their marching boots and heavy armor, slipped on soft shoes, and wrapped wool around their feet to dampen the noise. These were then sent forward in the dark of the forrest. The Battle With the sound of trumpets on either side, both hosts advanced onto the field. Their shields met with a terrible crash as both lines, advancing at the double-quick, collided with one another. Initially, the battle seemed to be going very much in Lord Darren's favor, with the Fitz host being pushed back and the cavalry on the left circling around for the kill. Just then, however, a troop of heavy infantry burst out of the forrest to the northwest, barrelling headlong into the Davenport cavalry. Just as it seemed that the battle would turn into a stalemate, the Fitz host sounded a peculiar trumpet clarion and Lord Marvin's household guard moved out of the forrest and smashed into the Davenport rear. Panicking, the Davenports sent up the signal for the cavalry waiting in ambush on the right to come and help them, however, as this cavalry attempted to move through the forrest on the east side, they ran into a carefully constructed deathtrap of wooden spikes, caltrops and Rube Goldberg-esque booby traps, turning their entire formation into a shambling mess and rendering them unable to participate in the battle. With all threats neutralized, the Fitz host successfully rolled up the Davenport line. Lord Darron was killed by an arrow as his command post was overrun, thus ending the line of the Davenports. In all, 400 Davenport troops had been killed or wounded, with most of the remainder being captured. By contrast, the FitzDavenports lost only 3 killed and 9 wounded.